benefits of whole hemp CBD
oil, more will start using it on
a daily basis without any medical need or condition. For example, almost every member
of the Pet Releaf team uses our
CBD oil on a daily basis, including our dogs.

PPN: Pet Releaf’s products are in the premium category. Who are your customers,
and what customer trends are driving
them to buy Pet Releaf products?

SS: Obviously, the trend toward humanization is a significant factor in our success.
However, “humanization” is
such a broad term. Initially,
our customer base tended to be
the consumers who were not
afraid of the cannabis plant.
Now, a large percentage of our
consumers are people who are
seeking a completely natural
alternative to harsh pharmaceuticals that are prescribed for
the conditions that CBD helps
with. The most important factor of all is that our retail partners are sharing personal and
other customers’ success stories with our products.

PPN: The natural and organic segments
of the market are exploding right now.
What’s your take on this category?

SS: A lot of it actually has to dowith the Internet. In the 1960s,“organic” was a very smallniche category in the humanmarket and almost nonexistentin the pet segment. With theability for people to do theirown research and find unfil-tered information on the healthconsequences of big food, theyare understanding the long-term effects on people ... andnow those same people are real-izing its effect on their pets. Thehumanization of our pets reallyhas made the organic pet side ofthe pet world explode.

PPN: The flip side of this exploding market is that not all products marketed as
natural are created equal. What should
pet specialty retailers be on the lookout
for when vetting products with the words
“natural” or “organic” on the packaging?

SS: “Natural” is a meaningless
term, and a lot of companies are
taking advantage of that and
sticking it on their labels. “
Organic” typically can be trusted, as long as it is vetted by a
third-party organization. We
are finding a similar issue with
CBD. Not all CBD pet companies and products are created
equal. Dozens of CBD pet companies are popping up. They
are buying bulk oil or powders
from dubious countries and private labeling. The scary thing is
that where you get your CBD
from, how you extract it and
what else is mixed with the
CBD is critical to the integrity
of the product. This is why we
love our retail partners. They
have taken the time to understand the Pet Releaf difference.

The most important differ-ence that makes Pet Releaf theabsolute best CBD pet productscompany is that we control theentire process from seed to saleand from plant to pet. Pet Re-leaf chooses to do it the rightway, which we believe is theonly way. Again, we are theonly CBD for pets companythat controls the entire process.We never buy private labeledproducts from Internet mid-dlemen. We only use organicwhole plant hemp, we only useCO2 extraction methods, andwe only mix with organic co-conut oil. There are far cheapersources of hemp to make CBD,such as China and Bolivia, farcheaper extraction methods,such as butane or ethanol for oilsand hexane or pentane for CBDpowders, isolates and crystals,and there are far cheaper mixingagents, such as vegetable glycer-in. At Pet Releaf, we will nevergo the cheaper route because webelieve in and stand behind thesafety, efficacy and integrity ofour products.

There are cheaper CBD products popping up all the time.
However, just like with kibble,
there is always a reason someone can offer a CBD product
for a discount. The most trusted and most educated retailers
will know this intuitively, and
we encourage them to continue
to provide their customers only
with properly vetted products.

PPN: What does the future hold for Pet
Releaf?

SS: We are constantly working
on new products and looking for ways to improve our
current ones. We recently released our topical, which was
created from the bottom up by
our team. Just like now, we will
never cut any corners. We are
also in late-stage development
of other product lines that are
not CBD focused but are also
the best in their class. We know
that we will never be all things
to all people, but we will be the
absolute No. 1 choice for a large
segment of people. Because of
our dedication to making the
best products for our pets, we
will be the only solution for a
lot of people. Our goal is to be
the No. 1 most-trusted brand in
the entire pet industry.

February 2017 Pet Product News International

Pet Releaf president Steve Smith at the new joint-venture hemp R&D facility in Colorado